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Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi endows $1M scholarship fund at BITS Pilani
The fund aims to empower women in STEM by ensuring financial constraints do not derail their academic pursuits.
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Ishani Duttagupta - Wed, 22, Jul 2026
- 15:08 EDT
- 40
Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi / File Photo
Revathi Advaithi, the Indian-American CEO of Fortune 500 company Flex (formerly Flextronics), and her husband, Jeevan Mulgund, established a permanent $1 million scholarship endowment for economically disadvantaged women students at BITS Pilani.
Advaithi, a 1986 mechanical engineering graduate of the institution, announced the initiative during her speech as the chief guest at BITS Pilani’s Convocation 2026. The fund aims to empower women in STEM by ensuring financial constraints do not derail their academic pursuits.
Describing her as a visionary leader shaping the future of advanced manufacturing, BITS Pilani praised her journey, “Advaithi exemplifies the excellence, innovation, and impact that define the BITSian spirit. Her remarkable path from our classrooms to leading a Fortune 500 company inspires generations of students and alumni alike.”
Also Read: Flex CEO Advaithi calls immigrant journey a “leap of faith” at Gold Gala
Addressing the graduating class, Advaithi reflected on her personal journey from the Pilani campus to the top of the corporate world, reminding graduates that determination can transform obstacles into opportunities. She urged them to build strong support systems, cultivate self-confidence, and embrace relentless hard work to shape their futures.
Group vice chancellor of BITS Pilani, Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, thanked Advaithi for her family’s generous contribution to the institution and said that her convocation address was among the most memorable he had heard. “It is rare to see students rise in a standing ovation after a convocation address. Her words clearly stuck a deep chord with them.”
Before joining Flex, Advaithi was president and chief operating officer of Eaton’s Electrical Sector and had earlier spent six years at Honeywell in leadership roles spanning manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, and sourcing. She is a recognized advocate for public-private collaboration in manufacturing.
In 2023, she was appointed by the US President to both the advisory committee for trade policy and negotiations and the advisory committee on supply chain competitiveness. She serves on the board of Uber and the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board.
BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, conferred degrees on 1,477 graduates, including 1,087 undergraduates, 271 postgraduates, and 119 Ph.D. scholars, during Convocation 2026.
“Do not become engineers who only learn to use technologies created elsewhere. Become engineers who build technologies for India and for the world,” professor Rao said in his address.
He highlighted the institute's growth, including six new undergraduate programmes, 269 new faculty members, over 3,000 Ph.D. scholars, annual extramural research funding surpassing ₹100 crore (10.36 million), and around 190 patents filed in the last financial year.
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